Kuchar, Cink Paired For Friday's Ryder Cup

The opening-round pairings for the Ryder Cup announced Thursday have former Yellow Jackets Matt Kuchar and Stewart Cink teaming together to face Rory McIlroy and Graeme McDowell of Europe. McIlroy and McDowell are both from Northern Ireland.

To watch the Jacket duo live you’ll have to wake-up early — very early. They’ll tee-off at 3:00 a.m. ET in Newport, Wales. A re-play of the match will be shown later in the day. ESPN is broadcasting Friday’s matches. NBC has coverage on Saturday and Sunday.

The pairings were announced at the opening ceremonies for the Ryder Cup on Thursday afternoon.There are eight matches Friday, eight more (four fourball, four foursomes) on Saturday and 12 singles matches on Sunday.

The United States needs 14 points to retain the Cup it won in 2008; Europe needs 14½ points to win the Cup.

Kuchar, a Ryder Cup rookie, is the PGA’s leading money-winner in 2010 ($4,881,227).

Cink, making his fifth Ryder Cup appearance, has won more than $1.5 million in 2010. Among the 12 players on the ’10 Ryder Cup team, only Phil Mickelson (8), Jim Furyk (7) and Tiger Woods (6) have made more appearances.